Ramon Humet: Niwa

"Like a Japanese garden," writes Josep Maria Guix, "the music of Ramon Humet is beautiful, refined, transparent, and often playful." Listening to Humlet's delicate, spaced-out Quatre jardins zen for three percussionists (2008) is a bit like an extended sensation of tingling, as though you're being exposed to the aural equivalent of gentle spray on sensitised skin. The other works by this Jonathan Harvey-inspired Catalan – Jardí de haikus for piano trio and three percussionists (2007), and Pètals for piano trio alone (2009) – don't create the same kind of aura. The packaging from the new Catalan label Neu is elaborate (notes on four folded cards, the equivalent of 56 pages); and a printed code allows downloads of sample tracks in surround sound. The works are separated by tracks devoted to 60 seconds of silence. url.ie/kbp7